I swear to god, Pizza Hut will be the downfall of this diet for me.

I haven't been doing great the last couple weeks. Mostly on track but a couple days where I eat crap, even if it's within my calories. Yesterday was bad though. A) I worked 7:30am-10:00pm so we b) ordered Pizza Hut.

I will never get over how delicious it is, even if it's so bad for me! I put $1 in my cheat pot though.

Another Day, Another Cheat

Sooo it's Brad's actual birthday today. While I've had some tummy issues ALL DAY, I was so hungry at dinner. If it weren't for dessert I wouldn't have gone over my calories. But 1 slice of my Miracle Whip cake is like 293 calories, plus a scoop of frozen yogurt... I'm over by probably 300 or 400 calories, so I added $1 to my cheat pot.

Both Jana and Erin expressed a desire to get back into this and drop $5 into the cheat pot to make up for the last couple weeks. Victory! Tomorrow I'm gym-ing it up, and I went yesterday as well. Other than today, I'm doing pretty well this week.

Fingers crossed it keeps up haha. I didn't lose anything last week, but I didn't gain either. I want more loss... I want March to be a good month. I'd like to weigh 180 by the time it's over. That's another 5.8 lbs to go. Wish me luck!

Oops

Wow, it's been almost a month since we last update our blog. Fail.

It feels like lately the three of us haven't been as into this competition and we'd been planning. It's probably due to the fact that we all live in different cities and never see one another, but I'd really like us to get back into it. Record any issues we're having, talk about our successes. Work out as often as possible.

I've been keeping up by myself, and not really checking in with the girls. I want to check in more often and make sure all three of us are on track. I'm making sure to work out AT LEAST 3 times a week, and each time is at least 45 minutes of cardio on an elliptical or an arc-trainer at the YMCA. I probably only do strength training once a week, and I should do that more often.. haha. But I don't have a whole lot of drive to do strength training. I bought a Wii fit and now that I have a gym membership, I never use it. That was probably a waste of money... but if I continue to not use it, I'm going to sell it. I've been staying well within my calories every day, except for a couple of cheat days (which I have charged myself $1 for each time on here), but I'm getting into a rut. Same food every week, not a whole lot of variety! It's mostly because I don't have the money to try a whole lot of new things, so I stick with what I know, what I have, and what I can afford. Boring right?

Anyways, I'd really like us to try harder to keep up with this competition and this blog. Don't forget, it IS going to cost 2 of us money! Only one of us will be the winner!

Cheat!!

Oops! I cheated again last night. To be fair, I didn't go over by too much... but Brad and I went to Pizza Hut and while I just had a personal pan pizza, I had 3 cheesy breadsticks, and those are like.. 130 calories PER BREADSTICK! Isn't that ridiculous? Amazingly deliciously ridiculous? hah. I then followed it with 5 rye and cokes. So I went over my calories by quite a bit, so I am definitely counting it as a cheat night.

Worth it though. I've been doing a lot of reading on random things, like which exercises are best and if cheat foods really hurt, blah blah, and while a lot of the information I'm reading in on My Fitness Pal and input by users and not professionals, I've done some on like... the Globe and Mail as well and they all say the same thing: cheating every once in a while, or fitting the food you love that you would consider cheat food INTO your diet, will help you be more successful than depriving yourself of all the things you love. Because if you have say... 9 mini eggs a day (100 calories! I know!) and you don't go over your daily intake, you're less likely to sit down one day and eat half a giant bag of them in one sitting. By allowing yourself some foods every once in a while and making it fit into your diet, you're less likely to binge one day and go WAYYY over.

These are the things I tell myself whenever I eat the food I think is bad for me, but fits into my calories haha. But I'm doing really well! I didn't lose any weight my birthday weekend but I definitely didn't expect to, and last week I lost 3 lbs! In total I'm at almost 10 lbs. I'm pretty proud of myself. I also got a YMCA membership the other day, since I bought my new car and can actually drive myself to the gym after work... I much prefer the gym to working out at home. There are some videos and stuff I like to do at home, and I also just bought a Wii Fit (hoping I don't forget about it and it wasn't a waste of money...) but I love the ellipticals at the gym. I burn 50% more calories on an elliptical than I do on a treadmill, and I find I can be on them longer because they don't hurt my feet and they have little TV's attached so I can watch whatever I want while I work out. There are also strength machines at the YMCA that I LOVE, so that's a bonus :)

All in all... things are looking up! I've noticed actual physical changes in my body. My stomach and boobs are shrinking, and the little underboob rolls are half the size. I'm feeling good, I'm looking good... things are coming up Milhouse!

The Unhealthy Way of Weightloss

So about two weeks ago, I came home from my internship to find that my niece and 6 month old nephew had come down with the stomach flu, shortly followed by my other nephew the next day. And since I, like most sane human beings, dislike the idea of vomitting, I chose to avoid them (which is easy since I'm usually out of the house and they stay out of my room). A couple days later my mom comes home early with the same symptoms and my brother stayed home from his classes that day. Its a bit harder to avoid them, but I tried my hardest. A week passed and my father, sister-in-law and I remained unaffected by the illness, so I thought I was home free.

Until Tuesday this week.

I should have realised something was up on Monday when I couldn't finish my brocoli, as it made me gag. I blindly assumed that I was just over full. I hadn't been expecting the food my mom had made me, so I'd eaten only an hour beforehand, so it really wasn't that unreasonable to assume. Until the next morning when I woke up around 5:30 with and upset stomach. I thought maybe I was just really hungry, since I hadn't eaten anything other than a small amount of popcorn since about 4 the day before. But I was wrong.

While I don't exactly understand why it took me 2 weeks to finally get sick, I do count myself rather lucky in the fact that it hit me early after a day where I hadn't had much to eat later in the day. I was sick first thing in the morning, so I emptied out right away, then knew better than to try eating anything, thus avoiding that unpleasantness for the most part.

However it's two days later. I was only sick that one time, but my stomach is just not my friend. I haven't really eaten that much of substance in almost 3 days. Little things, here and there. And even though I'm hungry, when I look at food, its just sooooooo unappealing. I feel sick thinking about actually ingesting anything. Its a problem.

However I'm trying to look on the bright side. I think I might have gained a pound or so with cheat week and Vday, but now I've lost like.... 3 or 4. Not that I condone not eating as a solution to weightloss. I just really need something to make me feel better, so let me have it.

ADVENTURE!

So it's been a while since I posted. I've been crazy busy. Bouncing between 2 jobs in two cities and managing my time to see friends and such is hard.

The last couple weeks have been mmm... not so great. Not terrible, but not as good as they could have been. Last week (as Amy mentioned) I only lost about half a pound. I wasn't discouraged though, because I knew I deserved that. I was eating things that weren't the healthiest, but not in abundance. So staying even wasn't that big of a shock. I was much better this week.

One of my biggest problems, and I think I've mentioned this, is that I'm a VERY picky eater. I know what I like and I try to stick with those thing. But lately I've been trying to be less critical of my food. For instance, a couple weeks back I was at the office and my friends came back with mexican food for everyone. I'm not a fan, but I didn't really want to go out alone to get something else, so I tried some. I thought about picking out the peppers and onions (I did a little for those I won't lie) but in the end I just ignored them, and honestly they weren't that bad! I only had like 3 little taco's about the size of my pointer finger, but still, rather delicious. Also a on Friday night I went to this special thing they have in Toronto called Winterlicious. I ordered a salad thinking I could pick out the tomato's but it turns out said salad was basically 3 tomatos and a couple leaves. I didn't like it, but the point is I tried a couple pieces before I traded someone for their garden salad. So yeah, I'm really trying to be more adventurous with my food. Its working well for me.

Anyway, I'm down over 3 pounds this week! Thats my biggest drop so far. I'm quite proud of myself. On the other hand, I think it could have been better. Yesterday on my way home from Toronto, to pay my mom back for picking me up, I took her out for lunch. There was a huge line up at Cora's so we ened up going to Pizza Hut (there was NO ONE there). Needless to say I didn't really behave myself, as it's impossible to do so at Pizza Hut. So I added a $1 to my cheat pot. Only one because I was actually full enough that I didn't eat anything other than a bit of popcorn at the movie last night. So I don't really know if I went over my calorie limit in the end. Oh well.

Oh! And I might also be doing some (not a lot) of Hot Yoga when I go up to Toronto. My friend is doing a 30 day Hot Yoga challenge (she's nuts I know) and she wants me to come along. It actually really nice. All my co-workers and friends are on a get fit train of thought right now too. Its making it easier :) I'm looking forward to doing some though, and I don't even like yoga that much.

Anyway, my cheat day is coming up on Wednesday. Its a pub night for the program I took in college and a bunch of my friends/co-workers are going to invade it. Hahaha, I always seem to save my cheat days for days I plan to drink in abundance, lol. I'm excited to get trashed though.

Also HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO AMY!!!! Even though I'm a twatface who missed your party, I hope you had a good time both nights and are have an especially great birthday today!

A week

Apparently we've all been slacking on updating our blog lately haha. It's been a week and two days since anyone updated, and that was me!

I think it's because last week was kind of a shitty week for all of us. At least it seems that way. Jana is down and out being lonely so far away, and since she's human, she's been eating stress. I've been stressing out over a car loan I'm waiting on, and I had a decently fun weekend but it involved eating out two nights in a row (stayed relatively around my calories, even so..) but drinking Friday a bunch and not counting those calories. Erin just made it sound like this week has been decent but not great for her. All in all it seemed like a slump week.. maybe that's just the way I'm interpreting it?

Jana dropped another 3 lbs, like a champ. Erin and I each lost less than 1 lb. I lost 0.8 and Erin says she lost only half. Woo... haha but at least it's a loss at all. This next week and weekend are going to be really hard on me.

This week is going to be tough, not eating wise, but exercise wise. I've come down with a dirty headcold, and I know one of the worst things I can do to myself when I have a cold is work out. It kills me, and makes my head ache 100x more than before. But we'll see how it goes and I will attempt to work out tomorrow or Thursday. Bad Amy.

I wonder if cleaning house counts as a workout? Between Brad and I, we have an entire apartment that needs cleaning, and that at least burns SOME calories haha. It's my birthday this weekend so I expect it'll be a bad weekend all over. It's my entire Cheat Weekend in February haha but can you blame me? I'm turning 25!! I'm going to try to be really good the rest of this week and all of the week after to make up for it. No going over my calories! Fingers crossed I still manage to drop a pound or so, cuz Jana is kicking my ass! You go girl!

Finally

Great success! I managed to drop another 2.6 lbs last week, so I've lost almost 6 lbs total in 3 weeks. It's good, it makes me feel good. I'm still eating food I like (except for McDonalds... boo) and making better choices. My issue is STILL SUGAR! I'm so awful, but I'm trying. I'm putting sweeteners in my tea (gross) and having Silhouette yogurt instead of Activia (not as gross) and not drinking juices unless I am allowed to. But it's still hard.

I really thought this week I wouldn't lose any weight. I haven't noticed any changes in my body or anything, no loss of inches.. But I'm still trying to find out which veggies I want to eat slash WILL eat. So gross! My friend Danielle loves cooking and eating veggies so she's making me (and Brad) dinner on Tuesday and going to do a little experimenting.

Other than this I don't have a whole lot to say. It's going, I had a lot of cravings.. but I'm keeping at it. I refuse to give up like I normally would. OH! And I'm putting in my FIRST cheat dollar! Chya! I called in sick to work on Friday due to a migraine that hit me at 2:30am and kept me awake until after 8am (I start at 7), so I slept it off. Felt better in the afternoon so Brad and I went and did a double feature at the movies. I had my normal yummy breakfast of cereal and I THINK I had a banana (was that yesterday or Friday?) but we were at the theatre from.... 2:30 until 9:00pm? With a little break at home between? So I had a no-fat yogen for lunch, with water. Had a microwave dinner for dinner real quick at home and still had a bunch of calories left, so I indulged and split a large popcorn with Brad. Usually I just put some in a share-bag and only eat that (it's like 100 cal) but I went yummy face on this bag... I didn't go over my calories but I still feel like it was cheating. So I'm putting in a buck for it. There, at least I'm honest about my cheating... ahha

I just can't wait for the day I break down and eat McDonalds on a not-cheat day. Worth the dollar... but not the lowered self-esteem haha. But I know it'll happen some time before Hallogivmas (Still wondering what that is?)

Slow But Steady

Another week, another 2 pounds. According to MyFitness Pal, that's what I should be losing. I'll admit, I'm not following the App like Amy and Jana are. I found out what my target calorie intake was thanks to it, and if I'm having an iffy day, I'll add up what I've eaten. But I find counting each calorie and worrying about how much I eat now will effect what I eat later far too stressfull. I'm finding that I'm gravitating to low calorie snack foods and having less for lunch and dinner, which is good. Especially since my lunch is usually my breakfast haha. I've also completely cut out pop and chips from my diet. I think I'm on the right track.

The only thing that I think is holding me back is my inability to do exercise except from walking. As I mentioned before, I have no space and no time. I want to try harder. I really enjoyed some of the P90X workouts. I already have all the tools (I just have to find them.... I think my nephew stole my 2lbs ball weights from my pilates kit), its just a matter of doing it.

Anyway, Friday was my cheat day. I didn't go overboard. The only cheat things I did was have a McD's breakfast bagel (my friend I was staying with had been craving them all week) and I went out for drinks that night. However, I would like to say that I probably burned most of those calories away from the 3 straight hours of dancing I did to the bar. I was sweating like a pig. It was disgusting hahaha.

I had to add a couple bucks to my cheat pot. Yesterday I forgot to bring my lunch with me to work, and since I'd had subway already this week, I got some fries and a hot dog. Epic fail on my part.

Anyway, I think that's all I have to report for the time being. Happy Dieting!

A Bad Week?

So, I didn't lose a single pound last week. And now we're at what I usually find the hardest part of any period when I'm trying to lose weight - The part where I don't. I haven't gone on a REAL diet ever, just done things like cut out pop or anything deep-fried for a period of time, or worked out really hard for a month. And when I don't see results, I am discouraged, and I quit. Or I comfort eat (mmm my favourite type of eating).

I had my cheat day on Saturday and I thought it might be really bad. Generally we don't want to overdo it when we get to cheat, so I ate a light breakfast and snacked a little, and by the end of the day had only gone over 400 calories. Which, considering I ate delicious buffalo chicken fingers and fries, isn't that bad. I also had an alcoholic drink with dinner (TEQUILA) and a pop. And I didn't even finish the pop! WONDER OF WONDERS. I also ice skated (barely) for an hour (I logged it as like, 20 minutes because most of it was spend with Brad skating backwards dragging me because I couldn't move myself), and had a Rye and Coke after. All in all, not too bad for a cheat day (Just wait until next month. Cheat. Birthday. Weekend!). I figured maybe with weighing myself after a cheat day, I would weigh more, but I was still hungry in the morning, and I weighed the same as last week. How depressing.

I've been doing some research though, on the message boards on My Fitness Pal, and that is super helpful. A lot of people don't notice much weight loss at first, or don't lose weight every week. And I was thinking maybe that even though I was staying under or just at my calorie goal for the day, what I was eating was preventing it? But apparently not, because people were saying they were still eating junk food, but less and logging it in their calories and still losing weight. Not that I'm going to start eating all the junk food I'm trying to wean myself off of, but it's hopeful to know that my microwave dinners, quesadillas and soup, aren't going to keep me fat.

I'm just really discouraged, but hoping to see results by next Sunday. I don't notice a difference in how I feel, other than I'm often hungrier and drinking more water to balance it out. And peeing a lot. A LOT.

Also, Instead of cardio last night, I did P90x Legs and Back, but since I down own pull-up bars or a resistance band, I just did legs. And now I can barely walk. I like doing strength training though because even though I have no idea how many calories it burns, in the end my stronger muscles will burn more calories than my flabby fat, and I'll notice more results. I'm just currently in a lot of pain. Since my birthday is coming up I think I'm going to ask for some lame fitness stuff, like girly weights (yeaaah light blue dinky 2lb and 5lb hand-weights, I'm such a pussy), a resistance band, and a heart-rate/calorie monitor, so I can see more accurately how I'm burning calories versus how machines tell me I'm burning them. And to see how many I burn killing myself at p90x, you rat bastards.

And the Days fly by...

Is it really Friday already? Wow. I am finding it easier to make and pack lunches. I was starving almost all weekend last week because I was out of groceries. I went grocery shopping on monday night (I think) and got some tasty stuff.

When I came home from grocery shopping, I made up little "snack packs" for my lunches. I bought little brown bags and have filled each with a juice box, and 2 snacks. These snacks include: vanilla pudding cups, apple sauce, fruit-to-go bars, chocolate chip granola bars, nutrigrain bars, and thinsations of various varieties. In a couple of bars, I put a surprise, like a couple of individual koolaid packettes or mini chocolate bars I had left over. Its been helpful so far. I also got some beefaroni and KD cups in the event that I do not have left overs to pack in my lunch or don't get around to making it.

Last night I went out for dinner with my cousin and I had fajitas and water. I thought I did pretty good, but I still managed to go over on my cals, carbs, fat, and sodium. I went over by around 350cals. After discussing this with Amy, we have decided that I do not owe $1. Why? because I have been under the last 3 days in a row by about 300. I have been more active this week as I have to walk to the bus and back for school. Today, I got off the bus a stop early just to put in a little m0re walking. One average this walking burns 150cals a day for me. I haven't been doing a lot of extra exercise, as when I am not at school, I am usually working, or just too burnt out. Also, it is difficult for me to get access to my Wii Fit or Just Dance. This is because to have enough room, it has to be in the living room.... There always seems to be someone in the living room because I live with 4 other people. At least I can always push myself into the kitchen to make food :)...

Sodium still seems to be my rival. I have been going through my logs on MyFitness, but there is no huge underlining foodstuff that I eat on a regular basis that is contributing to this overage. I think that maybe just the combination of all the foods I consistently eat add up to push me over. I have went over my sugars so far today, mainly due to my citrus punch juice box and yogurt drink... damn you juice! Other then that the only other stuff I go over is vitamin C, which makes no difference, as my body will just discard what I don't need. I still cannot decide what I will be making for dinner, but it will probably include some caesar salad and green olives (which will probably push my sodium over the edge of the cliff :s).

Unlike Erin and Amy, I prefer not to weigh myself during the week. It is my release on Sunday when I can step on the scale and know I did well. My pants I got for Christmas are falling over my ass... I am going to have to shrink them in the dryer. I think I can see some changes, my chin seems to be getting slimmer, and the top of my stomach flatter. This all my be an illusion or just happy thoughts, either way it makes me feel better about myself. Hopefully I start to see more changes and more rapid weight loss in order to keep me motivated, as well as these ladies.

Anyway, thats all for me today. I should really be paying attention in class, but we have already learnt this stuff, so I shouldn't be to behind when I tune back in. I will check in again Sunday or Monday and let you know how much more I have lost and what I did right and wrong at the end of the week.

Over and Out!

Craaaaaaavings

This week has been a lot harder than last week was, I've found. I have such cravings for chocolate and burgers and oh my god fries. Or ice cream... Mmm. I'm killing myself over here. Pizza! I want it! It's been hard, especially since we have so much chocolate at home left from Christmas. Yesterday I came home to find Brad had eaten almost all our mini eggs. He saved me some, but only a few in an attempt to keep me from eating more than I'm allowed. While it was the sweetest thought and very considerate, you NEVER eat a girls share of mini eggs!! But at least there isn't half a bag to tempt me. Just about 9...

I've found I enjoy soup, but only particular ones. And lo and behold, I eat all the veggies in soup! I SERIOUSLY DO! It's like magic. But it's not filling, and I find myself starving by 2:00. Hunger isn't a good thing. Not for me! I weighed myself a couple times this week and I'm pretty sure Sunday was a fluke and I haven't actually lost 3lbs. I'm consistently around 200 still, but I have been going over, I've been exercising and I haven't even had my cheat day yet! How frustrating. I have to keep going though, I'm not allowed to give up this time around.

Saturday is my cheat day. I can't wait. BuffLo chicken fingers and fries from Casey's. Om nom nom.... I can hold out until then!!

The Problem and The Solution

First, I'd like to point out that I a) changed the header so it is prettier and has less ugly pictures of us, and b) I have updated our pot and the cheats based off of our discussions weigh in thread on FB. Now back to your scheduled post.

I have one big problem when it comes to losing weight, and that is my surroundings. For those who don't know us irl, Jana, Amy and I met working at the movie theater in my hometown. The other two have since left to persue bigger and better things such as school and careers, but I'm still working there (nearing my 5 years guys, kill me now). Last spring I was given a "promotion" of sorts, which added to the amount I was already working. So needless to say, a significant portion of my week is spent there. Being as movie theaters don't exactly cater to the health concious people out there, I fell off my health kick pretty hard come summer.

On my breaks I'd get pizza, fries, nacho's, hot dogs, coupled with coke or some other unhealthy beaverage. You know those things that just don't help when you're trying to lose weight. And since I was working there so much, I never had evenings off to go to the gym, so I ended up not going at all for the final 5 months of my contract.

In September, however, it got a little worse. I started an internship, which had me travelling to Toronto for two days a week. While I'm there, we go out for lunch (which usually is burgers) and for dinner the night I was there, we'd always get pizza or wings. I'd also grab McD's for breakfast when I got off the train. I had, until that point, kept the 30 pounds I'd lost in January off, but since then I've gained back half of it. Hense why I'm determined to do this again, but right this time.

It also doesn't help that I live at home with my parents. While I'm generally good when it comes to snacking and breakfast/lunch, dinner is always a time where I over-eat. I like pasta. A lot. And as I'm a picky eater that's what my mom usually makes for me. But since I'm from a bigger family, our portions are usually on the large side. On top of that we have bad snack food just sitting there, waiting for me to eat it. Its hard to resist tempation when all you want to do is take that bag of chips and destroy it.

These are all factors as to why I've recently had a weight gain. But I'm slowly gaining control of the situation.

I went out grocery shopping with my mom on Saturday. I grabbed a bunch of healthy snack food that I will actually eat. I LOVE Special K granola and fruit snacks. They're just enough to be satisfying and their only 100 calories or less. I also got some 100 calorie fruit cups, some 100 calorie chip bags for those emergencies, 100 calorie microwavable popcorn with butter (which is awesome fyi) and a giant $13 bag of grapes. On top of that I picked up some healthier foods for me to eat. I stocked up on SmartOnes microwavable dinners, which really helped me last spring when I was losing weight. They're great for bringing to work to have for lunch/dinner. I also got ingredients to make small ceasar salad wraps, which a yummy.

My mom (who recently lost 50 pounds) is helping me by making me smaller portions and making sure that she makes me veggies (mostly brocoli because its the one veggie I LOVE). She's also trying to keep temptation foods away (though she can't do that all the time since my dad has similar tastes). It really helps that she understands what I need to make this happen.

One issue I do have is working out. Last year I had a gym membership and for a while I was going 2-3 times a week. But as I don't drive and live out of the city, it was hard to get to. I eventually started doing home workouts, which were great, and I loved them. But then summer happened and I got so busy that I didn't have time to work out everday like I had been. I still don't have much time, but that's not the only reason why it's difficult for me now.

Last spring, my grandmother (who had been living in our basement) got really sick, and ended up moving in with my Aunt who could take better care of her because she's a super of an apartment building, where as my parents both work out of town. This meant that I had the entirety of our basement to work out in peace. I eventually moved my room down there, which gave me more space and privacy. However, this past fall, my brother and his family were forced to move in with us, so he could afford to go to school. His family (wife and 3 kids) took the upstairs, while me and my parents are now in the basement, which really isn't big enough for the 3 of us. We're still very cluttered because of the move so there's no where for me to roll out my yoga mat or exercise ball and do a helpful work out. I'm trying to do some stuff, but needless to say, it's difficult.

On the upside though, my jobs do help to keep my active. I have to climb steps several times a shift at the theater. I also do a lot of walking when I got to my internship. So at the very least I am doing small workouts a three of 4 times a week, even though they're not as intense as the ones I was doing last year. Its still good exercise.

Anyway, I added another dollar to my cheats. We had a staff Festivus party at work the other night, so I ended up eating more than I should have that day. It happened to be the day before our weigh-in, so I only went down almost 2 pounds. I'm not too concerned. I've been weighing myself daily and since that day, I've already lost another two. So if I can keep what I'm doing, especially now that I have good food around me, I should be able to catch up.

Holy wow this turned into a long post. Haha.

One Week Down...

I meant to post yesterday, but for some reason it was not working at all. This week has been pretty good, I haven't really slipped up that much. I finally downloaded the MyFitness app, since Amy would not shut up about it. Its actually pretty helpful at counting cals and showing you what you are not getting enough of or too much of. Apparently I have an issue with sugar and sodium... its there everyday in the red.... WHY! The app says that according to my age, height, weight and gender, I need 1690 cals a day. I think this is a little over stated as it is based on losing 2 lbs a week, when the save amount is 3 to 4, according to a dietician I saw last year. Losing small amounts helps you to keep the weight off and form habits.

I owe $2 dollars in cheats this week. One for going over 430 cals because of my sushi dinner out with the roommates and another because I only did 2 exercise periods this week and not 3.

This week I start school, so I will have to form a habit of making mu lunch and buying groceries to supply such lunch. I think I am going to take my cheat day this week as well as a celebration of the new semester, but I will keep you posted. I will probably be posting at this time every Monday, among other days now that I will be in class in front of my computer.

Note:

Thinsations are literally my BEST friend, and they are 2 for $5 @ WalMart! What up!!!

Progress: 4 lbs down, only 73 more to go to reach my goal weight of 180.

Why is my goal weight 180? The dietician I saw last year said that this weight would put me at a health BMI...

Weekend weakness?

Hmmm no one but me is updating hahaha come on girls, get in gear!

I find that weekends are my biggest issue. I know I should be eating 3 meals a day with numerous snacks, but my weekends usually involve only breakfast at around noon, and eventually dinner. Dinner used to be takeout or pizza, but now it has to be real food. This weekend was strange and difficult but I manage to stay relatively within my 1,200 cal/day. On Saturday I had to get up stupid early to drive to Burlington for an 8am dentist appointment (aka filling) so I didn't eat breakfast before And couldn't eat anything after. I actually didn't eat anything until we went to a movie at 4:45, and I had popcorn since it was Encore and I hadn't had their popcorn in 4 years. Best popcorn ever. Unfortunately, we had butter. But! I also had Chinese food for dinner. So bad, right? But no pop, and no chocolate, and small portions, I only went over by 60 calories! Still not good eating habits for the day. Sunday was a little better, cereal for breakfast and pork tenderloin, rice and veggies for dinner. I had to struggle to fill out my calories for the day! So I had 2 cookies and some apple juice and that just about did it lol.

I didn't work out on the weekend, but I did 6 out of 7 days of the week. I plan on working out 4 out of the 5 days of this week, as well. Either playing Just Dance 2 (so good!) or walking on the treadmill and doing some strength training. We'll see what I end up doing!

The best news is that I bought a new scale, one that is 100x more accurate than my shitty old one! I lost almost 20lbs according to that scale lol. I like it. So I weighed in on Sunday at 196.4 lbs. Under 200! I did it again this morning and went up a bit but a few pounds is never a big deal... That's just normal bodily functions doing their thing!

First week over and done with. I hear the first week is the hardest but I imagine when I start aching for mcdonalds or pizza... That'll be the hardest part!

Day 6: So Far So Good

So I haven't updated in a couple of days. It's been a bit of a struggle still realizing what I can and cannot eat to stay within my calorie range (1200/day). But yesterday was my first day going over, after my chicken quesadilla for dinner. I only went over by 153 calories though, so my My Fitness Pal app didn't yell at me.

This app is seriously amazing. Using it has really made me realize just how many calories I take in on a normal day. My breakfast alone would be almost 500 calories a normal day due to large portions of cereal and 2 glasses of tea. It's down to 230 now for my everyday work breakfast. With snacks and everything I was going way over. But now that I have this app, I've really had it brought to my attention how I snack too much!

Also, doing this with friends? SERIOUSLY better than doing it alone! My girls here keep me in track through this blog and we talk about what we've eaten or if we've exercised (I've only taken one day off all week!), plus 2 of my girlfriends at work are also dieting. Donna is doing Weight Watchers for the second time and she's got some tips and tricks when it comes to watching how you eat and how much you're allowed to cheat. Crystal downloaded the MyFitnessPal app as well and we often compare our lunches and planned dinners and how it affects our calorie intakes for the day. It really helps to know I'm
Not the only person around doing this and having other people to compare and give food ideas.

I'm not excited for my weigh-in ok Sunday (especially considering my scale-on-drugs), but I'm at least optimistic. And that's saying something, for sure.

I have had the last 2 days off, which usually means eat all day long and stay in bed. I did stay in bed for the most part, but I didn't eat myself out of house and home... that bad. I didn't cheat but I did probably eat some stuff thats not soo great, like popcorn with becel on it... But I think I am doing ok.

I am worried to return to school, because this is the time that usually puts me into an eating frenzy! I can't control it. My goal is to take control... choose all the healthier snacks and meals I have been eyeing up while I get pizza or fries and just go for the veggies!

I NEED to lose weight cause soon its going to be a question of life or death... But I am probably going to need a lot of help and support from you lovely ladies!

Nooooooo.....

So I just failed hard and ate chips. So there's a $1 in my pot. :/

To be fair, I wasn't going to eat said chips. I had counted out some crackers for a light snack, keeping it so it was a low calorie number. Bit into one and I guess it was bad. It was kinda mushie and it tasted aweful. I had to eat something to get that taste out and what can I say? I needed my salty.

But other than that I'm doing well. I'm back on the no pop, strictly water phase. I did this last year did really well until like... 3 months ago. So that shouldn't be too hard. I have some nice flavoured water to give me variety too. I'm finding it really easy to drink more than 8 cups a day. :)

I'm also trying to stock up healthier snacks. Its difficult for me. I much prefer saltier foods, and I don't find that there's a whole lot of salty snack food... other than chips and crackers. Both of which caused tonights failure. But I did get some Special K Strawberry granola bars. I'll have to out shopping with my mom sometime to find more.

I realised today that I'm going to struggle with the fast food rule. When I head to my internship in Toronto, we always go out for lunch. Hopefully I can find a place with some healthier food like salads. I'm heading up there on Thursdays. I guess we'll see.

As for excersize I haven't been able to do any the last few days (unless you count climbing the stairs at work a bunch of times). But I plan to do some Kenpo tomorrow, and some Pilates on Wednesday. I also do a lot of walking on Thursdays and Fridays. So I should be good to get exercise this week. I'm gonna try and set out a schedule that works well for me. :)

I was thinking about looking into taking Tai Chi. I've been wanting to do it for a little over a year now but I haven't had time or anyone to go with. But I really want to do it. I'll see when the next session starts and maybe convince my mom to go with me.

Well, that's all for me!

Day 3...

I'm 3 days into this diet and already finding it challenging. In that a) I have no ideas on what to cook and b) when I look at my calorie intake on this diet and compare what I'm eating, it doesn't seem like any more than before, nor does the food seem like it will make a difference. Tonight I had a grilled skinless chicken breast and an actual 1-person serving of butter and herb Sidekicks. In total it came to less than 400 calories, yet I feel like this was something bad. I guess I'll just have to figure it out as I go along.

I exercised the last 2 days and decided to take today to relax. I attempted to remain active, in that I tidied the apartment and we took down our Christmas tree. It's fine that I took today off though because tomorrow I'm going to my friend Mike's to play dancing games on his new XBox Kinect. And that will burn approximately a BILLION calories. Excellent

Also, my scale is full of shit. I weight myself on Friday and it said 200lbs. On Saturday it said 217lbs, and wouldn't budge. Today, 201. WHAT IS UP WITH THAT? Either I'm carrying like 30lbs in water weight that will go wherever it wants.. or my scale is on drugs. I'm going for the latter, but we'll see.

Now I'm going to watch Beauty & The Beast and do some more dishes. Tucker myself right out for my early bedtime and waking time tomorrow. Back to the grindstone of sitting on my ass for 10 hours every day tomorrow. FUN

I would like to say first off, GREAT blog ladies! Secondly, horrid pic of me, I had just had my wisdow teeth out, my face is swollen and if you look closely it looks like someone hit me! LOL...

Anyway, heres my update for today...

Today, I work 11 to 5... because I can't seem to get my ass out of bed enough before work to eat a wholesome breakfast, instead of grabbing McDons or Tims, I packed an apple, grapes and a granola bar for some eats... (I packed it yesterday while I cooked dinner)

For lunch I have a piece of boccolli and cheese stuffed chicken, with a half cup of rice and a shit tone of veggies (peppers, baby tomatos, cucumber with a little ranch for my dipping pleasure)!

Snacks: I have a pack of thinsations chocolate covered pretzels, and 2 fruit to goes...

This post is mostly for Amy who is consistantly complaining she does not know how to eat! So here's what I'm eating!

Also hers my tip for the day: When cooking dinner, make enough for two meals and pack one up for lunch right away! That way you will be less tempted to eat it and you won't have to make something entirely separate.

Example: Last night I cooked two pieces of chicken... While it cooked I made rice, cut some veggies and a caeser salad. I had the piece of chicken and salad for dinner and packed the rest for lunch! Its working for me!!!

Happy New Year

Well hello! And welcome to our blog.  Our being myself (Amy), Erin and Jana.  We are three early twenties ladies who are sick of being chubby.  And what better way to start off the New Year by attempting to kill ourselves with misery for 4 months, am I right?

It all began one day when I was bitching complaining to Jana about the weight I'd gained at my new job.  I went from being on my feet all day every day, to sitting on my butt for at least 10 hours a day (1 hour commute each way, 8 hour shift.  FUN) and I put on a lot of weight.  You can see the stretch marks on my thighs from space.  So Jana, being the media-following girl she is, says to me "why don't we do the Biggest Loser" and I go "I don't know what that means".  Basically we decide hey, let's compete against one another to lose weight and gain money. BAM. Good idea!  It started out us two, paying $1 for each pound the other girl loses, and $1 for each cheat (my biggest problem).  Running from the New Year to our invented holiday at the end of April, Hallogivmas.

Erin then texts me and says "hey let's lose weight together in the New Year" and I go oh heyyyyaaa join our Biggest Loser! So now she's in and designed our blog because she's good at internets.  So the new rules are as follows (in case you can't read the note pad)

Erin pays for my lost weight
I pay for Jana's
Jana pays for Erin's
(because we're all too broke to pay for both peoples weight loss)

We get one cheat day a month.  I know it says every second Wednesday but personally we're each allowed to make our own decisions about it.  If a set date works for one, go for it.  Personally I'm going to just choose a day each month, whether it's something like my birthday dinner (February) or date night with my man, whatever. We still only get one.

We pay $1 into the pot as well if we eat too much cheat food, eat fast food or eating cheat day food when it's not our cheat day. Stuff like that, you understand.
Though we are allowed small amounts (like 100 calorie convenient bags of chips?) every once in a while, when you NEED THEM.  And let's face it... we need our chocolate. And occasional chips.  And pop with alcohol. And I wonder why I'm fat....

Whoever loses the most weight by Hallogivmas (I bet you're wondering what that is now) gets all the money in the pot: Our combined weight losses, plus any cheats I've we've paid for. And then we party.

We're sharing this blog to keep track, check in, and make fun of ourselves.  Expect my updates to be all over the place as I am incapable of following a thought through.

Good luck to my girls! We're doing it from afar since Jana lives in Ottawa and Erin and I rarely see one another due to my work and her work being separately lame.  Also, download the My Fitness Pal app. Just saying.

LET'S DO THIS